Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Trims Stock Position in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust cut its stake in SLM Co. (NASDAQ:SLM) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,862 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 439 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in SLM were worth $300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in SLM by 0.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,923,576 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $158,342,000 after acquiring an additional 43,927 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in SLM by 7.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,762,328 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $108,936,000 after acquiring an additional 331,490 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in SLM by 0.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,758,057 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $40,207,000 after acquiring an additional 15,252 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in SLM by 11.1% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,114,083 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $25,479,000 after acquiring an additional 111,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in SLM by 2.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 669,263 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $15,306,000 after acquiring an additional 18,470 shares during the last quarter. 98.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SLM Price Performance

SLM opened at $30.19 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.27. The firm has a market cap of $6.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.39, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.22. SLM Co. has a twelve month low of $19.39 and a twelve month high of $32.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.37.

SLM (NASDAQ:SLM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The credit services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.06). SLM had a net margin of 20.73% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Equities research analysts expect that SLM Co. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SLM Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 5th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. SLM’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert S. Strong sold 40,000 shares of SLM stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.57, for a total value of $1,142,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 43,163 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,166.91. This trade represents a 48.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SLM. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of SLM from $34.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of SLM from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of SLM from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Compass Point upped their target price on shares of SLM from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.91.

SLM Profile

SLM Corporation, through its subsidiaries, originates and services private education loans to students and their families to finance the cost of their education in the United States. It is also involved in the provision of retail deposit accounts, including certificates of deposit, money market accounts, and high-yield savings accounts; and interest-bearing omnibus accounts.